D.M.E. - Coastal Flood Risk in Wales - Activity Sheet
What Will We Do About Coastal Flooding?
Decision Making Exercise
Imagine you have been appointed as a specialist advisor from the Wales
Coastal Monitoring Centre – W.C.M.C.
You will be asked to write a brief report outlining the issues on a section
or sections of the coastline in Wales. You will need to:

Give a background summary of issues identified as a result of the
storms of Winter 2013/14.

Explain the options for your section or sections of coastline:
o No Active Intervention (N.A.I.)
o Hold the Line (H.T.L.)
o Managed Realignment (M.R.)
o Advance the Line (A.T.L.)

Describe (use maps to help you to do this) the current preferred
option for your chosen location or locations in the S.M.P.’s for:
o Epoch 1 (short-term) = years 0 to 20.
o Epoch 2 (medium term) = years 20 to 50 and.
o Epoch 3 (long term) = years 50 to 100.

Your Decision:
o Either justify why you think this is the best option or
o Provide an alternative plan and justify why you have
changed it.
…………………………………………………..
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), Fifth Assessment Report estimates that
global temperatures have risen 0.85°C from 18802012. There has been an associated rise in global sea
level which is now increasing at approximately 3.2 mm
per year. The IPCC state that it is very likely that
the 21st Century sea level rise rate will exceed the
1971-2000 rate, for all modelled emissions scenarios.
“
4. Use this quote to help you explain how an expected sea level
increase of 0.5 metres would affect how frequent sever sea level
events would be.
“A central estimate of 0.47m increase is projected by
2081-2100, relative to the 1986-2005 baseline. An
increase of 0.5m is estimated to result in 10-fold to
100-fold increase in the frequency of sea level
extremes (relative to present day) in northern Europe
by the end of the century. This would mean a coastal
flooding event that has a return period of 100 years
at present will potentially occur on average between
every year and every ten years by 2100.”
7. Use the following headings to show the different ways that we have
to approach coastal flooding in Wales:
a. Progressing the Recommendation
b. Storm Severity
c. Flood Forecasting
d. Flood Warning & Community Response
e. Operational Response
f. Coastal Defences
g. Infrastructure Resilience
8. Explain how each of the following recent developments are
important in reducing coastal flooding:
1. Creation of the Flood Forecasting Centre in April 2009. It is
fully operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
2. Improvements in the quality of the U.K. weather forecast
information.
3. Improvements in the coverage and quality of flood
forecasting and flood warning service.
4. Improvements in the understanding of coastal erosion risk
and mapping.
5. The work of ‘Flood Awareness Wales’ to expand local
understanding and community preparedness for flooding.
6. Investment in the construction of new coastal defences, such
as Borth, Riverside at Newport and Fairbourne.
7. Investment in the maintenance and reconstruction of
existing coastal defences such as the Tidal Clwyd
Embankments.
8. Put the section heading Options.
9. Explain the meaning of the following options:
1. Use the Section heading Introduction before answering the
following questions in the form of a paragraph (not separately):
o
o
o
o
a. What is coastal flooding?
b. What happened in December 2013?
c. What happened in January 2014?
10. Using a map to help you; identify the management options for a
particular section of coastline for each of the three epochs:
2. Use this quote to help you explain what scientists think might
happen in the future.
“Projections for the future of our coastal areas
are of increasing risk, as a consequence of climate
change and in particular sea level rise.”
3. Use this quote to help you explain what the IPCC said in 2014 about
temperature change and sea level change.
No Active Intervention (N.A.I.)
Hold the Line (H.T.L.)
Managed Realignment (M.R.)
Advance the Line (A.T.L.)
o Epoch 1 (short-term) = years 0 to 20.
o Epoch 2 (medium term) = years 20 to 50 and.
o Epoch 3 (long term) = years 50 to 100.
5. Describe what this graph is showing you and explain how it could
affect coastal flooding.
6. Identify other possible reasons why there is an increased risk of
coastal flooding around Wales.
11. Put the section heading Decision.
12. Either justify why you agree with the decisions made in the S.M.P. or
provide an alternative plan and justify why you have changed it.
13. Look at recommendations for other sections of the coastline that
you do not agree with and provide alternatives and justify them.
1
KS3 A3 Activity Sheet